Fears post will deter others from seeking help

A Port Richey couple is angry. They say the Pasco Sheriff's Office took a very personal call for help and mocked them on Facebook.

Couple says sheriff's office mocked them online after the wife called 911 when a mistake turned dangerous.

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PORT RICHEY, Fla. -

A Florida couple is angry and embarrassed after they say the Pasco (Fla.) Sheriff's Office took a very personal situation and mocked them on Facebook.

After two years of trying to conceive, the couple is now counting on artificial insemination to make it happen.

The 26-year-old wife, who does not want to be identified, says on Wednesday she mishandled a thermos containing dry ice and two vials of sperm.

"Found that I had accidentally, essentially created a bomb in my freezer so I contacted the non-emergency number," she said.

That call to the Pasco Sheriff's Office for help is something she said she now regrets.

"I made an innocent mistake, I feel like I contacted the right people and I feel like I'm being mocked for it now," she said.

Especially since the Pasco Sheriff's Office described a very delicate, personal situation in detail for more than 88,000 Facebook followers to read about online, she said.

"We weren't even telling our family," she said. "It was something my husband and I were keeping between ourselves."

The post stated:

The woman advised "she is trying to get pregnant by artificial insemination… and was trying to store the sperm as per the directions. She stated she placed two small vials of sperm inside a stainless steel thermos, added dry ice, and closed the lid without removing the rubber O-ring as the directions required."

Responding deputies noted the "potential for an explosive due to increasing pressure inside the device."

Fire-Rescue personnel carried the container outside using a pair of channel lock pliers remove the thermos lid, releasing the pressure and removing the danger.

What's even worse, she said, the post includes a stock photo of a woman in disgust.

"I just feel like the post lacks professionalism and lacks the care that I was shown in person," she said.

More than 200 people have commented, many of them questioning the sheriff's office decision to create the post.

"We attempt to show every day what our officers see in calls and we are a very open agency about the types of calls we see each day," Sheriff Chris Nocco said in a statement to Tampa-based WFTS. "This was a very unique call faced by our officers as well as Pasco fire fighters. Make no mistake, this was a potentially dangerous situation."

The woman at the center of the post now expressing concern the "mocking" post said she will deter others from calling for help in the future.

"Now I'm afraid to call," she said. "If I were to get into the same situation, I would want to try to figure out a way to handle it myself."

WFTS asked the sheriff's office to detail its social media guidelines/policies, but the sheriff's response Thursday night did not answer those questions.

Copyright 2017 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.